


Danganronpa / Love Live! AU Chapter 2

by STARRY_RlN



Series: The Killing Idol Festival [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Crossover, F/F, Gen, Multi, Shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 22:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11541807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARRY_RlN/pseuds/STARRY_RlN
Summary: Chapter 2 of my Love Live / Danganronpa AU! If you haven't read chapter 1 make sure to read that first since the first sentence of this is a spoiler for the first chapter!New Chapters will be uploaded as they are completed so look forward to more!





	Danganronpa / Love Live! AU Chapter 2

**_CHAPTER 2_ **

**_Secrets, Surprises, and Sacrifice_ **

  


After the deaths of Kotori Minami and Honoka Kousaka, the building felt so much more empty than it should have. Only two residents were gone but it felt like so much more of the energy had left us. For someone to kill so quickly and without any explanation as to why she did it before her own death, it was horrifying. It gave a perspective that anyone can kill at anytime, for any reason, it was absolutely unpredictable.

“What are you all still doing standing around? Get back into the Commons Area and get out of here!”

Monokuma seemed eager to get us out of the trial room and back into the Hotel proper so everyone filed into the Commons Area. We all decided to give Umi some space so that she could mourn her friends’ deaths. Upon arrival back in the Hotel itself there was one thing that was immediately made clear to us. As everyone returned to the main area of the Hotel, upon passing the bedrooms, we all saw that Honoka and Kotori had had their rooms removed. The doors had simply disappeared, leaving a large space of empty wall where their rooms had previously been.

Everyone sort of gravitated to the Cafeteria, lead by Maki, her stride unslowed by the brutal execution we all had just borne witness to.

“So I was thinking we make this our meeting place, every day at the end of nighttime we should all come here to meet up and discuss anything we need to discuss unless someone has a valid reason such as being in the medicine room. Any objections?”

Nobody said anything, it seemed like Maki was becoming our leader of sorts. She was a good one though, she was strong, smart, and certainly knew what she was doing. As I was listening to Maki I felt someone coming up behind me and Mari grabbed my chest. I reflexively jumped away and turned to see her smiling.

“It’s always good to check what you don’t expect!”

That was all she said as she walked away. When Mari left a few others noticed and started to leave as well until only Maki, myself, Hanamaru, Ruby, Hanayo, and Rin remained.

“Does anyone wanna have lunch with me zura?”

Her offer sounded good enough so I accepted, Maki left saying she didn’t have much of an appetite at the moment, but Ruby, Rin, and Hanayo also decided to stay.

“So whad’ya want for lunch? There’s a lot of food back in the kitchen so we could have just about anything zura.”

“I-I was thinking maybe we could have something simple, like grilled cheese sandwiches, some comfort food after something like that, Dia’s always been good at making them for me, maybe she could make them for us now?”

“I like the idea Ruby but you don’t need to go get her, I’ll make them!”

“I think you would be better off letting me do it Rin, the last time you cooked anything other than ramen you accidentally put the cookies into water and started to boil them…”

“How do you even- Nevermind, I say we let Hanayo do it, I’ll make some tomato soup to go along with it!”

“Ok, sounds good Chika, I hope we have a good meal zura!”

Hanayo and I went into the kitchen, it was my first time in there other than when we found the bottle and so it was my first chance to look around. It was massive, the walls were lined with food and ovens and refrigerators and there was a large counter for food preparation. Hanayo went to the shelves and grabbed bread and cheese as I got a few cans of tomatoes to start with. I took a pot off the wall and turned on the stove, filling the bottom of the pot with oil before adding the tomatoes. I looked over and saw Hanayo with 5 loaves of bread and a lot of cheese, just how many sandwiches was she making? I walked over to the shelves and grabbed a few more cans of tomatoes to compensate. When I was about halfway done with my soup I looked over and saw Hanayo with 5 plates, the first four had 3 sandwiches each but the last one was stacked with 14 at this point.

“Whoa, how many are you making? Did you find out about how much Maru eats?”

“Maru? Wait what do you mean? That’s all for Rin, have you seen her eat?”

“Uh, you may want to split that then because Maru could easily eat twice that amount if she were hungry.”

“W-wait what? Hanamaru is a big eater too?”

Hanayo’s face got red and she went over and pulled another two loaves of bread off the shelf. It was getting scary how many she was making.

As I was finishing my soup Hanayo’s voice raised as she announced her progress.

“Done! Three for myself, Chika, and Ruby, Thirteen each for Hanamaru and Rin!”

“I’m just finishing up my soup so you can bring out the sandwiches now if you want Hanayo!”

“Ok, I’ll do that then, here’s hoping your soup turned out well!”

I put the finishing touches on the soup and brought a hotplate for the pot out to the table everyone was at, everyone seemed to be waiting for me to finish before eating so I quickly grabbed a pair of pot holders and took the soup out. I went back to get everyone a bowl, a spoon, and a ladle and gave everyone their soup.

The moment I sat down, Rin and Maru made a quick prayer and dove right into their food. Hanayo’s sandwiches and my soup both turned out pretty good so I was happy.

As I was about to start my second sandwich I heard footsteps in the hall and Maki came into the Cafeteria.

“Chika, is your back doing ok?”

“Yeah, it hasn’t been hurting too badly since the trial but it still stings a bit.”

“Well take this before you go to sleep tonight, it should help you feel fine tomorrow, and can you come by my room later so I can look at your back again?”

“Ok, no problem, I’ll see you then.”

“Yeah- wait, is that tomato soup?”

“Yup, we all wanted something to eat and Ruby suggested grilled cheese sandwiches. Hanayo made the sandwiches and I made the soup!”

“I-I think I might join you, I think I’m starting to feel a bit hungry.”

“Ok, let me go get you a bowl then!”

Maki’s joining us was nice, we continued our small talk as we ate and somehow Rin was the first to finish her sandwiches and 4 bowls of soup. Maru was close behind and had finished 5 bowls of soup. Ruby said she was saving a sandwich for Dia after finishing her second and Hanayo finished before me. Maru and Ruby said they were going to the library and Rin dragged Hanayo off to the exercise room.

“So Chika, wanna come by now so I can check your back before nighttime comes?”

“Sure, seems like as good a time as any.”

I left a note saying that anyone could help themselves to the soup and left the hotplate on. We walked back to Maki’s room and she told me to go take my shirt off in her bathroom and call out to her when I was ready for her to come in.

I went to take my shirt off and as I untied the ribbon that was part of my uniform I saw a small piece of paper fall to the ground. I uncrumpled it and it read ‘Come to the Baths at 11pm tonight.’ It was strange, how could it have gotten there? Who could it be from? Why would they want to meet in the baths specifically? Maybe it would be best not to tell anyone, if this was how they delivered the message they clearly didn’t want someone else to find out.

“You ready yet?”

I realized I was holding Maki up and quickly put the paper into my shoe and finished taking my shirt off.

“Alright, I’m ready!”

Maki came into the bathroom and I felt her hand pressing on my back. It hurt a bit but not as much as it had been. Whatever Maki was doing she was doing right.

“Alright, you should be fine after tonight, just make sure you sleep well and don’t forget to take that pill I gave you earlier before going to bed.”

“Ok, thanks Maki, you’re a huge help to have around!”

“Hm, I don’t think I have been. Especially since I hid a few pieces of the case from you, but believe what you want, your loss when I’m gone.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, just that it’s unlikely I’ll live through this entire thing with how important I am, I took the position of leader so I also took the position of the biggest target.”

“I guess that’s true, well in that case I’ll be sure to figure out who the culprit is even if I have to do it without your help eventually!”

“I’m putting my stock in you Chika, don’t fail me, I’m sure you’ll be able to win this game and get as many people out as possible.”

With that Maki left and I was alone in her room. I put my clothes back on and went to my room. When I got there I realized there wasn’t exactly anything for me to do so I decided to go look in the courtyard where Honoka’s body once was. I already knew it would likely be the case but when I got there Honoka was gone. The only people there were myself and Riko. Riko had an easel in front of her and seemed to be painting something. When I walked over I saw what she was painting and it was slightly disturbing. What was in front of her was a recreation of what Honoka’s body looked like and beside her was a reimagining of Kotori during her execution. Riko didn’t notice me for a while and when she looked up she seemed startled.

“C-Chika! I-I, I just- I-”

“Why are you drawing their bodies?”

“I just, I wanted to put these on the wall where Honoka and Kotori’s doors were. I just wanted us to remember them, I didn’t want to have it be as if they were simply erased from the Hotel.”

“Hm, that still seems a bit weird but I guess I understand. Are you going to be painting any other bodies that come up?”

“Well, that’s my plan. I just want us all to remember our friends when they’re gone.”

Riko and I continued with a bit more small talk before parting. I decided to go check on Rin and Hanayo in the Exercise Room and when I arrived I saw Yoshiko talking to them.

“So, would you both like to become Yohane’s little demons?”

“That sounds fun! Let’s do it Rin!”

“Heheha, of course you would say that, who wouldn’t accept such a gracious offer from a fallen angel such as myself!”

“Yoshiko, what’s up!”

“It’s Yohane!”

“Hehehe, well, are you having fun with these two?”

“I’m recruiting them to my demonic army, I’ve decided it’s necessary to expand my search outside of Aqours and began requesting aid of the µ's as well!”

“Kayo-Chin and I think it sounds fun so we’re joining her!”

“Well have fun! She can get to be a bit much so I hope you can keep up with her!”

With that I left the three to talk amongst themselves. As I wandered around almost aimlessly I saw Eli in the center hall, running her hand back and forth along the south wall.

“What’s up Eli?”

“It’s weird, the map says the Management should be here and tells us not to enter but I don’t think we could enter if we tried. There’s no door. I don’t understand it.”

“Well, maybe it’s just like something else we’ve seen here.”

“Where else have we seen a lack of a door where there should be one?”

“Well that should be obvious, the doors are gone at Honoka and Kotori’s rooms. Now all that’s there are the paintings that Riko made of their bodies.”   
“Why would she do something like that? Isn’t it unsettling to have the only thing left of them be a painting of their corpses?”

“Well, I think it’s better to look at it as a reminder that nobody can be completely trusted and that anyone can die at any point.”

“I guess you’re right… There really is so little room to trust anyone here…”

Eli sounded really sad while she said that. Was there someone she was afraid of being betrayed by?

“So, anything else on your mind besides the lack of a door?”

“No, well yes, but nothing worth talking about.”

Eli seemed to be taking the situation pretty hard. I couldn’t blame her, she was scared. There were so many people we should trust but it was hard to bring ourselves to do it. After the betrayal of Kotori we were all suspicious, who would be the next to kill their friend? There was no way to know.

“Well, I’m going back to Nozomi, she said she was going to check my fortune again so I want to know the results. It’s almost nighttime so if you’re planning on anything else tonight you should wrap it up now.”

“Ok, thanks Eli, good night.”

Eli walked off and after wandering a bit more I ended up back in my room. I remembered the paper in my shoe and took it out to read it again. The baths at 11? That’s an hour after Nighttime starts. Who could it be from? And how could they have gotten it into my ribbon? So many questions but it wasn’t long before they would be answered.

Suddenly I heard an unfamiliar ring. It was different from the body discovery announcement. I looked up to the monitor in the corner of my room and saw Monokuma appear on its screen.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, the Cafeteria, Central hall, and Exercise rooms are now off limits.”

And with that it turned off. I guess I had missed the first nighttime bulletin due to the fact I was passed out. Well only an hour until I had to be in the Baths to meet whoever had left the note, maybe it would be best to bring some form of self defense? Although there wasn’t really anything in the room that I could defend myself with.

After a very slow hour it was 11. I got up and opened my door, being sure it was locked behind me. I quietly walked to the Baths but since I was at the end of the hall I didn’t need to walk past anybody’s rooms. The painting of Honoka’s body hung outside my door gave me an ominous feeling in the dim light of the hall at nighttime.

When I arrived in the Baths I didn’t see anyone there. Did I get the time wrong? No, it was definitely 11pm. Where was the person who had given me the note? Suddenly I felt myself getting pulled back by the arm. I was pulled into a shower and I saw Mari.

“You weren’t followed right?”

“N-no, why’d you call me out here at this time?”

“Well, take a look around the room, do you see anything missing?”

I looked around and everything seemed normal. Almost too normal.

“Wait, where are the camera and monitor?”

“There are none, I guess even an evil bear has some sense of privacy.”

“Ok but still, why’d you call me out here? And why just me?”

“You seem like the person I can trust the best, I want you to help me with something. I want you to help me convince everyone to take a bath together. If it were just me then everyone would write it off as me wanting to see everyone naked but if you suggest it as a way to relieve stress I’m sure at least most of the others will agree.”

“O-ok, that’s it? Tomorrow when we meet in the Cafeteria you want me to suggest everyone taking a bath together?”

“Exactly, I hope I can count on you. Now I’m going to leave first. Stay here for about 10 minutes before leaving just in case you really were followed.”

“You’re being really careful about this Mari…”

“Of course, I don’t want to be the idiot who gets killed for blindly believing everyone.”

I get the feeling she was thinking about me when she said that, but I may be wrong. She left and about 10 minutes later I left. But I didn’t go back to my room. I went to the pool instead. I had a feeling I would see something if I went there since it was the one room I hadn’t checked out yet.

When I arrived I saw something alright, but it wasn’t what I expected. You and Umi were in around the pool and talking. Rather than going in I listened, staying around a corner in the courtyard.

“Umi, are you sure you’re ok with talking about this?”

“Yes, I need to tell someone. Just promise not to tell anyone else ok?”

“Of course, so why do you think she did it?”

“She was always excelling at everything, she was smart, skilled, and full of passion for what she did, even if she wasn’t loud about it. She always had the most options out of any of us. She probably thought that if anyone were to get out of here it should be her since she could do so much without µ's. She always had offers from schools overseas and some fashion companies were ready to hire her straight out of High School. That’s probably why she did what she did.”

What were they talking about? Was it Kotori? Was this why Kotori had killed Honoka? If that’s the case then I can kind of see where she was coming from, but killing her best friend still seemed like it was a bit too far.

“I’m going back to my room, it’s late, I’m tired. Today’s been a bit too heavy on my mind.”

“Yeah, I understand. I think I’ll stay around here a bit, being near the pool is calming to me.”

“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow You.”

I could hear footsteps getting closer. I tried to hide a little better and slow my breathing until Umi was gone.

The next thing I heard sounded like a shirt being thrown to the ground. I heard steps up a ladder and then a splash. I couldn’t stop myself from looking in and I saw You in the water in her swimsuit. I guess it’s nice that there’s a pool for her to dive into so she can continue doing what she loves. I’m happy for her. I got up and started to leave and as I walked out the door I heard another splash. You was in the water again.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

That was what I was woken up by. The tone of Monokuma’s voice in the last statement seemed to imply the opposite of what he had said.

I got up and got dressed before leaving my room to meet in the Cafeteria like we had arranged the previous day. While I was walking I realized I had forgotten to take the medication that Maki had given me but my back felt fine so I guess it didn’t matter in the end. When I arrived I saw the You wasn’t there yet. I was about to turn around to look for her but when I did I bumped right into her, hitting her head with my own.

“Oww, watch where you’re going! Oh, hey Chika!”

“Hehe, sorry about that, I was about to go looking for you, where were you?”

“Well I sort of slept through Monokuma’s morning announcement, no big deal! Hehehe..”

It was easy to see she was lying but I chose not to pry. She was under a lot of stress and after what I saw last night it was easy to assume the truth. She was diving all night and never slept, she likely just got here from drying off.

“Well now that we’re all accounted for I think we should see if there’s anything anyone wants to say, if not then we can all be on our way.”

Maki’s statement reminded me of my conversation with Mari and so I kept my promise.

“Well I think we should all go to the Baths together, we can relieve stress that way and try to gain deeper trust with each other!”

“That sounds like a good idea Chika, any objections to bathing together?”

Nobody spoke up to say they didn’t want to do it but a few seemed less eager than the others to say the least.

“Well in that case let’s do it at 8, everyone can eat if they want and at 8 we’ll meet in the Baths to lessen mistrust and relieve the stress of yesterday.”

With that Maki left and a few others went with her. This time it was myself, Dia, Ruby, Yoshiko, Maru, Mari, Riko, Nozomi, and Nico who were left in the Cafeteria.

“Hello, Nozomi Toujou, Nico Yazawa, would either of you like to become one of the fallen angel Yohane’s little demons?”

“Well Nico’s little and she can certainly be considered a demon so I’d say she’s already there!”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!”

“She certainly is a demonically good idol, I’m sure she’ll make a wonderful minion!”

“Ok you’re right but the number one idol Nico Yazawa works under no one! I’ll be at the top, above the rest! Just watch me!”

With that Nico stormed out of the room, and Yoshiko chased after her, screaming about how Nico would make a fine demon.

“Chika, come here.”

“Hm? What’s up Riko?”

“I was thinking a bit and are you ok with having the paintings where they are?”

“What do you mean? Is there something wrong with them?”

“No, it’s just that I thought maybe it wouldn’t be best for your mind having a painting of your inspiration’s corpse right outside your door.”

“I don’t think it’ll be too big of a deal, besides, it’s still dim in the hotel when the day starts, I probably won’t notice most of the time!”

It really did unsettle me but Riko went to so much effort to paint the bodies that I didn’t want to upset her. I’m sure You felt the same with Kotori’s directly outside hers.

“Ok, but if it ever gets to be too much for you just let me know and I’ll move it. I just don’t want to disturb you!”

“Really, it’s fine, don’t worry!”

“Ok, ok, I’m feeling a bit out of it so I think I’ll head back to my room and lay down until we meet up in the Baths.”

“Alright, this whole mess is really stressful so just don’t force yourself too hard.”

Riko left and I turned to see something that should’ve almost been expected one way or another.

Mari was behind Nozomi with her arms wrapped around her chest.

“Wow! Not as good as Kanan but still quite impressive!”

“I could say the same about you compared to Eli! But it’s good to know there’s someone else here with the same tastes in women as myself!”

“Mari, Nozomi, could you please do this, not here, it’s the middle of the Cafeteria.”

“Come on Dia, just because you’re not as well endowed as Mari or myself doesn’t mean you have to be jealous, all sizes have their merits!”

At this Dia turned bright red. “C-Come on Ruby, let’s go.”

“Fufufu~ Admitting defeat are we Dia?”

Dia somehow turned even redder as she left the Cafeteria with Ruby in tow. Maru finished her food, cleared her dish and followed after the two leaving only myself, Mari, and Nozomi in the Cafeteria

“By the way, Chika, thanks for the help before.”

“Hm? What help? Are the two of you plotting something?”

“She helped me in getting everyone to meet in the Baths, I couldn’t have done it without her!”

“Ah, so it was your idea. That makes much more sense now, Chika didn’t strike me as the type to suggest the Baths, I would have thought she’d recommend relaxing at the pool instead.”

“Ehehe, am I really that easy to see through?”

“Well I’m sure nobody else noticed that it was someone else’s idea except maybe Kanan. She can probably sniff out any plan of Mari’s from a mile away!”

“Oh! You’re right, I wonder why she didn’t object then if she knows it was me?”

“Maybe she wants to take a bath with you and is just being shy about it?”

“I like that idea, that’s what I choose to believe!”

“Oh hey, it’s almost time, we should probably move over to the Baths so we can wait for everyone there.”

“You’re right Chika, it’s probably better if I explain everything before we get in.”

“Oh? Is there something else I’m missing? We’re not just going as an excuse to look at girls?”

“Fufu, that’s still part of the reason of course but there’s something else I want to talk about in there.”

Mari left without waiting for a response from Nozomi and the two of us followed her to the Baths.

When we got there we saw that Dia, Ruby, and Maru, as well as Umi, You, and Kanan had already arrived. Shortly after us came Rin, Hanayo, Yoshiko, and Nico. The only two that had yet to show up were Riko and Maki.

“I’m pretty sure Riko is in her room so I can go get her but I don’t know where Maki is, can someone else look for her?”

“I’ll go look for her Chika, if anyone finds her it’d probably be me anyways.”

“Thanks Nico, good luck.”

I turned to run down to the west hall and when I came up to Riko’s room the door was open, and upon looking into the room I saw Riko asleep in her bed. It struck me as odd that she would leave her door open if she planned to take a nap but I didn’t try to overthink it.

I walked up to Riko and poked her face to try to wake her up.

“Hng, Chika, how did you get in here?”

“Morning sleepy head, you may have left your door open, heheh.”

“W-what? I thought I closed it! That’s sort of terrifying.”

“Well it worked out fine I guess, it’s almost 8 so I came to bring you to the Baths like we agreed we would.”

“O-ok, I’m still a bit unsettled by the fact my door was open but you’re right, it didn’t really matter, did it?”

As we left Riko’s room we heard something behind us.

“So you’re heading down now as well?”

Maki came out of her room. Why was she so late compared to everyone else?

“Actually everyone's already in the Baths, I came to get Riko who was taking a nap in her room and Nico went to look for you but I guess now we’ll have to figure out where she went too.”

“Nico’s always been quick to give up if her first guess was wrong, she’ll probably already be back at the Baths.”

As we turned the corner to the north hall we saw Nico turning the opposite corner at the same time, seems Maki wasn’t quite right.

“Hey, so she was in her room, I was about to check there.”

“Yeah, it seems like Maki and Riko were both in their rooms, Riko sort of left her door open though.”

“Ch-CHika! You don’t have to say that in front of everyone!”

“Well now that everyone’s here I guess we can go in.”

When we went in we saw everyone still waiting and Mari looked up, looking eager to begin sharing her discovery.

“Ok! Now that everyone’s here I want to tell you why we’re really in this room!”

“What, so it’s not to take a bath together?”

“Well we can certainly do that afterward Dia but first there’s something I noticed when I came here the first time, anyone else notice what I’m talking about?”

“Well that’s simple, there’s not a camera in here.”

“Yes! There’s no camera in here and there’s also not a microphone, meaning anything discussed in here is completely secret from Monokuma.”

“I see, so if we were to have a general discussion in the Cafeteria and a more important one that we don’t want Monokuma to know in here then we can keep some of our own actions secret from him. However I don’t see the point. He has made it very clear that he’s not going to harm us as long as we play by his rules and continue the killing festival he’s made.”

“True, true, there’s nothing currently that we will ever need to discuss without him but this can be great insurance for the future. If we ever do have something to discuss then we will already know that we’ll be safe to do so here!”

As Mari finished her speech there was a noise none of us expected to hear, the sound of 16 beeps from everyone’s Monobooks. When I took mine out I saw a new notice.

  


**_This Is an Important Bulletin_ **

**_All residents of the Hotel of Despair please report to the Commons Area at once_ **

  


It was unexpected, what could Monokuma want from us so suddenly? Well there was no way to get an answer without going to the Commons Area so everyone collectively left the Baths and walked to the Commons Area as instructed.

Upon arrival we saw that Monokuma was in front of the table he has previously launched across the room when we had first met in this room. It was strange, it felt like that was so long ago, as if we had been in the Hotel for so long, but it had only been 3 days since I had woken up.

“Welcome, good to see you were all able to come so quickly, were you all together or something?”

“What does it matter to you?”

“Nothing I guess, but I just don’t think we’ll get a random killing like the first, so I decided to give you all a bit of an incentive!”

“So you called us here to give us a motive to kill someone? I thought you said you wouldn’t do anything to hurt any of us!”

Kanan brought up a good point, but Monokuma seemed prepared for someone to say this.

“Well am I really hurting anyone? I’m just giving you a reward should you disrupt the peace and risk your life by taking the life of another!”

“T-that’s, still not ok! You’re still raising the odds of someone killing someone else!”

“Well I don’t think I’m breaking any of my rules with this, after all, they only say that I will not kill anyone, not that I won’t encourage it!”

Kanan tried to think of a response but failed and just stepped away, defeated.

“Ok so without further interruption, why don’t we get on with the announcement of your motive?”

Suddenly a door in the ceiling opened and money came pouring down.

“I decided to start simple so why don’t you kill someone for a bit of cash? We’ve got about ten million right here so that should be plenty enough for you to be happy, right? Well have fun!”

With that the floor opened, Monokuma and the table, along with the money on top of it, fell down into the abyss below and then the floor and ceiling both closed at the same time.

“Oh please, who here would kill for money? That’s an awful motive!’

“Well Nico, I think it’s safe to say that you, me, Kanan, and Maki aren’t going to be killing anyone since Maki and I are already rich and the two of you are already going to marry into money!”

“W-what! Don’t be ridiculous Mari, who are you implying Nico’s going to marry into money with?”

“Why you of course, you try to hide it but it’s so obvious! You’re both so perfect for each other!”

“N-no we aren’t! We’re so different, there’s no overlay!”

“Oh well that’s just a blatant lie, there’s no reason to reject your own feelings Maki!” Mari continued to smile more and more and she was clearly enjoying this. “Now why don’t you two go spend some time alone in one of your rooms? I’m sure you could use the private time together!”

“T-that’s, what are you implying Mari?” Maki was turning bright red and seemed ready to scream. “That’s it, I’m not going to stand and take this, come on Nico.”

“See? Even when you’re trying to deny it you still stay with Nico!”

Maki stormed out of the room along with Nico and they were lost around corner at the end of the hall.

“Mari, don’t you think you took that a bit too far?”

“Don’t worry Kanan, This is normal even among the other members of µ's, they act like it annoys them but they know it’s true. The others did the same with myself and Nozomi for quite some time as well, so don’t think too hard about their frustration.”

“Hmm, ok, you know, Eli, I think you’re probably one of the easiest girls here for me to talk to, we both put up with the same things what with you having Nozomi and myself, Mari.”

“You’re right, we should talk more, getting close to the others is the only way to really keep yourself safe too, isn’t it?”

“That’s right, mutual trust is the only way for everyone to survive!”

“You two sure seem like you’re starting to get along.”

“Of course, they’re pretty similar after all, Chika. Eli puts up with me and Kanan with Mari and they both give off a bit of a fatherly atmosphere. It’s no surprise really that they’re getting along.”

While Nozomi was talking to me Kanan and Eli had left as well as Mari, Ruby, Maru, Umi, and Rin.

Dia left and as she exited she muttered under her breath “I wonder if Kanan could help get me closer to Eli…”

“So I guess the plans for the group bath are off.”

“I guess so, sorry I had to wake you up for this Riko.”

“No, it’s ok, I’d rather it be you than anyone else after all, I think I may go back to my room again though. Probably not to sleep but just to sort of relax again. It’s easy to panic when something like this is happening, you know what I mean?

“Yeah, that makes sense, well have fun, I might just wander a bit and talk to people, see how they’re doing.”

“Ok, see you later probably!”

Riko left and I saw that the only one left in the room other than myself was Hanayo.

“It’s weird to see you alone Hanayo.”

“H-huh? What do you mean?”   
It’s just that you’re always with Rin, you may as well be strapped together most of the time!”

“I guess you’re right, we are really close.”

“So what’s up? Why’d you stick around here instead of running off with everyone else?”

“N-nothing really, I just didn’t feel like going anywhere.”

“I’m not sure I believe that, you have to have a reason for staying in here, especially since nobody’s ever in here.”

“R-really! It’s nothing!”

“Are you suuuuure?”

“W-well, fine, I wanted to make some Ramen as a gift for Rin somewhere nobody would see, I wanted to surprise her.”

“Oh, well if that’s it then your secret is safe with me! Is there anything I can help you with?”

“No, I think I have everything.”

Hanayo walked over to a couch in the corner of the room and pushed it to the side, revealing a stash of a pot, a portable stove, noodles, and all the other ingredients to ramen.

“Woah! Where was all that? I don’t think I saw a portable stove in the kitchen?”

“That’s because there wasn’t one, I got it from the storage room, there was also propane for it so I decided to use that to make it more easily than trying to do it in the middle of the night before anyone woke up!”

“That’s really smart, you’re more creative than you look!”

“T-thank you? I think?”

“No problem! I’ll leave you to that then, have fun!”

I turned and left the room as I heard Hanayo moving around the stuff she brought into the Commons Area. I shut the door behind me to try to muffle the sounds and keep the others from investigating, which would ruin Hanayo’s surprise.

As I continued down the hall I saw Riko coming out of her room with a small piece of paper.

“What’s that?”

“Huh? Oh this, apparently I forgot to close my door again somehow so I asked Umi if I could put a sticky note on her door to remind myself to close it. I really have no idea how I’m forgetting so much, I’m not usually this scatterbrained.”

“Yeah, usually you’re better than this. Maybe you’re just more stressed than you realize?”

“I guess, I’m going to try to be more careful though, you never know what could happen.”

“Well, enjoy your rest I guess, you probably need it.”

“Yeah, I guess, you should be careful too, ok?”

“Yup, I’ll be sure to watch what I do, see you around.”

Riko smiled as she turned back into her own room and shut her door behind her. I continued to the end of the hall and could hear some sort of commotion coming from the Exercise Room so I went to see what was happening.

“There’s no way I could lose in a weightlifting competition between the three of us!”

“Please You, I carry around oxygen tanks all day and workout way more than you, I’m definitely stronger!”

“Nyahaha, as if I’ll lose to either of you, I’m definitely the strongest in the building, I was hardly even trying in that arm wrestle on the first day!”

You, Kanan, and Rin seemed to be arguing over who was the strongest person here. I was happy that You was already in her usual high spirits but there was something that seemed a bit strange.

“Kanan, weren’t you with Eli?”

“She said she was going to stay in her room since she was waiting for a fortune from Nozomi, apparently the fortune is taking longer than normal to come out reasonably so she’s trying to stay extra safe.”

“Ok, that seems odd considering how she was acting before you two left the room but I guess that’s fair. So why are you all arguing?”

“I came in to try to get some weightlifting in and Rin was already on the only bench in the room, then Kanan came and now we can’t decide on who should be able to use it first!”

“So we decided to have a competition to see who can lift the most and that’s how we’re going to decide the order!”

“Those two seem a bit more excited for this than I am to be honest and the only reason I haven’t just taken third is because they won’t let me back out.”

“Well, have fun I guess, lifting is You’s hobby so I’d say she has a clear shot at this but you’re really strong and Rin was able to hold her own against you while hardly breaking a sweat so I guess it’d be interesting to see what happens.”

“You can stay if you want but it probably won’t be that interesting to you, just adding more and more weight until one of us can’t do it.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll leave you to yourselves, good luck you guys.”

“I’ll beat ny’all easily!”

Rin kept screaming about winning while I left and I laughed at the thought that she could just be underestimating us in Aqours and that it would be funny if she came in last but considering how well she did when armwrestling Kanan I didn’t think it was very likely.

As I walked down the hall further I saw Maki moving from the Library to the Medicine Room with a couple of books under her arm.

“Hey, Chika, come here for a second.”

“What’s up? Is there something you want me to do for you?”

“No, just something I want you to take a look at in here.”

Maki walked into the Medicine Room and I followed, there was a large part of the medicine cabinet which was empty and I saw a large assortment of bottles and vials on the desk.

“Ok so most of the things here are common medicines and painkillers but a few of them I couldn’t recognize from the Hospital. I looked into drug labeling while I was in the Library and I think I know why I never saw them at the hospital. Do you know what Dimethylmercury is by chance?”

“Dye method hercules?”

“I’ll take that as a no, Dimethylmercury is a strong but slow working poison, it works in very small amounts but can take months to work. Based upon that can you guess what everything on this table is?”

“Poison?”

“Yes, you have basic ones like cyanide pills and you have some less common ones like tetrodotoxin from puffer fish and octopodes. There are also some poisonous plants such as hemlock and belladonna. If I were you I would stand as far away from that table as you could.”

“So I’m guessing Monokuma put those there as a potential tool for a killing.”

“Most likely, although the odds of anyone else figuring out what some of these are without spending an absurd amount of time either in here or in the Library are extremely low. I just wanted you to know this in case it becomes important later since, as I told you before, my chance for survival is low, it’s likely it will only get lower as this continues since any potential killers would want to be rid of the biggest threat to their success.”

With that I heard a voice coming into the room behind me.

“Maki, here’s the rest of the books you wanted, so we doing this tonight or?”

“Nico! Pay more attention please!” Maki suddenly turned bright red at Nico’s comment which had caused me to laugh.

“H-hey! What’s Chika doing here!”

Nico started to fall forward but was able to catch her balance only dropping a few books, although the books were falling towards the desk with all the different poisons on it! Maki was luckily ready to catch the books, saving us from the issue of having a pool of deadly poison on the floor of the medicine room.

“Seriously Nico, you need to be more careful sometimes, some of these can probably kill you with the odor.”

“S-sorry, it’s not my fault you needed so many books, why do there have to be so many different types of poison?”

“Honestly some of them shouldn’t even need to be here. I doubt the slow killing ones would even come into play at any point so I’m not sure why Monokuma would put them here.”

“Well either way, Chika! Go away, you’re not needed here, leave the two of us alone and go talk to someone else, we’re busy!”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t like to share with what so I guess I’ll act like I heard nothing, see you two!”

I smiled at them as I left and I’m not sure if I made Nico more or less angry at me with that comment. As I left I saw Mari, Nozomi, Eli, and Dia walking down the other hall, all in swimsuits.

“Are you all going to the pool?”

“Oh, hi there Chika-chi! Yeah, I managed to convince them to come since we couldn’t take our bath, I saw Kanan in the Exercise Room and she said she would join us when she was done in there.”

“I should probably check on those three, who knows what could happen if they’re not supervised.”

“Ok but just a forewarning, Rin looked like she was about ready to try to bench press You.”

“Well… In that case I should  _ definitely _ check on those three.”

“Haha, well good luck, hopefully you can get out unharmed!”

With that the four of them continued down the hall and I turned back towards the Exercise Room.

“COME ON, I’LL DO IT, GET OVER HERE YOU.”

“RIN STOP, PUT YOU DOWN, WE CONCEDE, YOU CAN HAVE IT FIRST, JUST LET GO OF YOU!”

“WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING WHY AM I BEING HELD BY RIN. WHY IS RIN BENCH PRESSING ME.”

“EVERYONE PLEASE, I LEAVE YOU FOR FIVE MINUTES AND LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENS.”

“CHIKA JUST HELP ME GET YOU FROM RIN.”

Kanan and I managed to wrestle You free from Rin who just stood up triumphantly.

“Hah! I told you I was the best!”

“Rin, you didn’t have to try to bench press You to prove that, you had already won anyways.”

“It felt too quick! There was hardly any weight at all! I had to prove it to myself otherwise I wouldn’t be okay with that victory!”

“You still had no reason to try to bench You, only I can hold her like that!”

“Ch-Chika! You don’t have to say it like that!”

“Eheheh, it’s not a lie though!”

“Hmm, you two remind me of myself and Kayo-chin!”

“H-huh? I don’t think we’re that similar, are we?”

“No, you definitely are! You is strong and a little boyish like me and Chika is like Kayo-chin, supporting You and being all around a super good friend!”

You and I both blushed at this, I wasn’t sure if it was really a compliment or not but it seemed like Rin really did think that we were similar.

“Hey, don’t think that just because you’re comparing the two of them to yourself you can get away scot free, you should owe all of us a favour for that.”

“Aww, what do you mean by favour?”

“I’m not sure yet, but you have to do one thing to help each of us later, ok?”

“Ok, I don’t mind helping anyways so I guess this is fine!”

“Well with that settled I think I should go catch up with the others at the pool, see you around.”

“See you Kanan.”

Kanan left and jogged back towards the west hall to change in her room.

“Hey, do either of you know where Kayo-chin is? I never saw where she went after we all left the Commons Area.”

“No, I’m not sure I’ve seen her go past the room, do you know where Hanayo is?”

“H-huh? N-no, I haven’t seen her at all! Maybe she got food from the kitchen? Or maybe You just missed her and she went down to the Library, I’m not sure.”

You looked at me and I could tell she knew I was lying, I never was a good liar, but Rin seemed to believe me.

“See? You even stutter like Kayo-chin! Well, if neither of you two know where she is I guess I can just look around for her, I’ll see you later!”

Rin ran off to look for Hanayo and as she left I saw Ruby and Maru come around the corner.

“Oh, hi Rin! Where are you running off to zura?”

“Hi Maru! I’m looking for Kayo-chin, I’m not sure where she went after we left the Commons Area so I’m just going to look everywhere in the hotel!”

“Well good luck, I’m not sure where she is either so I hope you find her!”

“Thanks Maru! See you around!”

“Well you two seem to have gotten close!”

‘Hm? What do you mean Chika?”

“Well she calls you Maru, I didn’t think anyone in μ’s called you by your nickname!”

“Well of course she knows my nickname, we’ve always been close zura.”

“Wait what? Why didn’t I know you were close to μ’s?”

“Not μ’s, just Rin, of course we would know each other, we’re both poster girls for Sega zura, why wouldn’t I know the person I work closest to?”

“That’s so cool though! Why didn't you ever tell any of us that you two were so close?”

“I-I just didn’t think it was important that I’m close to my coworkers, did I do something wrong zura?”

“No! Nothing wrong, I’m just surprised is all! You’re fine Maru, really!”

“O-ok, well what are you two doing here? You’re not really the type to work out for fun Chika…”

“Hey! That’s not very nice!”

“Rin, Kanan, and I had a weightlifting competition to see who would get first dibs at the bench and Rin won. Kanan lost but I think she threw it just so she wouldn’t have to argue with anyone.”

“Oh, well do you want to come down to the Library with us? I wanted to take a better look at the classical Literature section and see if there was anything I hadn’t read!”

“Oh, that sounds fun and all but I’m busy with um, Maki, she asked me to come by the Medicine Room to talk to her about something in a little while so I shouldn’t let myself get too distracted!”

“Ok, just remember that if you ever need a book suggestion you’re free to ask!”

“O-of course, we’ll be sure to remember!”

Maru left along with Ruby who had been silent that entire time but I guess it’s fine since a girl like her must be freaking out inside over everything that’s happening and the thought that she has the most people here who she cares for with Maru and Dia being her family and her closeness to Yohane.

“Well if you have to go see Maki I guess I should leave you be, I’ll see you later Chika.”

“Yeah, I’ll see  _ You _ later.”

“Chika please, that joke hurts, that’s hardly even a joke.”

“Hehehe, sorry You, your name is just so fun, I can't help myself sometimes!”

You left and turned towards the west hall, I decided to go along with my own lie and check on Maki in the Medicine Room.

“Ok so what’s the next one Nico?”

Nico was still in the room with Maki helping her sort the poisons and figure out what they all were, they both wore gloves and coats and Nico was being careful keeping them away from her face, it was good to know they could at least keep themselves safe.

“Alright this one says 90% cyclohexanone pulegone, you know what that is?”

Maki began flipping through pages in the book she had in her hands, the cover read Common and Uncommon Poisons created by Plants.

“Alright that’s probably highly concentrated pennyroyal oil, ingestion can cause multiorgan failure which would obviously lead to death.”

“Well there’s the 50th, you know what you promised.”

“Yeah, yeah, no need to remind me Nico, now come here.”

“Yup, just let me put this in its spot in the super-death section, there we go.”

Nico turned towards Maki but as she was turning she saw me at the door.

“Ch-Chika! I thought I told you to leave! Why are you back here!”

Maki looked up from her book and saw me as well.

“I just wanted to see how you two were doing, make sure you weren’t having trouble with anything, I’m guessing I came along at a bad time for you?”

“A bad… Chika you’re working your way up on my ‘Nuisance’ list really quickly.”

“Sorry, sorry, I guess I’ll go then.”

“Wait, Chika, there is something you could do for me before you go.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“I want you to spend the night with someone else tonight, don’t stay in your room, Nozomi told me to hand off the message when I had the chance, don’t tell anyone I told you and it can’t be anyone who knows about the fortune being myself, Nico, and Nozomi. She also wants you to tell her who you end up staying with.”

“Ok then, I’ll ask a couple people, maybe I can get everyone to have one big Aqours slumber party!”

“Well, you have fun with that, now leave and let us finish sorting these poisons.”

“That probably sounds weird out of context but hey, you shouldn’t cheat Nico out of her kiss just because I came in!”

“W-what! G-get out of here! The kiss isn’t until 75!”

“Heheh, you’re really cute when you’re flustered Maki, I can see why Nico likes you!”

I left with a smile again and this time I knew for sure that I was upsetting them with my comments but they seemed to agree with me.

I thought about what Maki had told me. What was in Nozomi’s fortune that made her think that staying in my room would be a bad idea? Putting those thoughts aside I decided to ask around and see who might want to have the sleepover with me. I decided to start in the Pool since that was at the end of the hall and I knew most of the third years were there.

“Hey Chika-chi! Did you come to join us?”

“Hi Mari, no, I just wanted to see if you all wanted to have an Aqours sleepover!”

“That idea doesn’t sound that bad, I’m in, we couldn’t have our bath together so why not, you want to come as well Mari?”

“Well if you’re going then of course Kanan, I wouldn’t want to miss a chance like that!”

“Mari why are you like this, well I’m coming along as well. I can’t trust you alone with everyone else.”

“Well of course you’re coming Dia! There’s no way I would let you out of this!”

“Why am I not surprised by you saying that.”

“Well where are we going to be for this?”

“We could go in your room, Kanan!”

“I… don’t think I trust you in my room Mari.”

“Don’t worry Kanan, I’ll keep her in check. Honestly, sometimes it feels like she needs more babysitting than Ruby.”

“I think you mean most of the time, well Chika, you can go find the others now, I guess we’re doing this in my room.”

“Alright, I’ll be sure to tell everyone that! Ruby and Maru are in the Library so I guess I’ll ask them first.”

“You have fun with that, and tell Ruby that I already agreed to go so it’s ok.”

“Alright, I will.”

I left and as I was walking towards the central hall I saw Rin come out of the stage.

“Hey Rin, how’s your search coming?”

“Oh hi there Chika, I haven’t found Kayo-chin yet but Yohane and You are in there. I’m not completely sure what they’re doing though.”

“Oh well that helps me out a bit, I’m trying to find everyone in Aqours to have almost like a mini sleepover in Kanan’s room tonight.”

“Oh that sounds fun! Can Kayo-chin and I come too?”

“I guess that’s fine, I don’t think I see a problem with that, if you two really want to then you should totally join us! The more the merrier!”

“When I find her I’ll be sure to tell her to come to Kanan’s room tonight! See you!”

Rin ran off, although she didn’t go far. She turned and disappeared down the center hall. As I lost sight of her I entered the Stage to tell You and Yoshiko about the plans.

I don’t really know how to describe what I saw. Yoshiko was standing outside of a ring of candles and You was tied down in the center of it.

“What are you doing Yoshiko?”

“It’s Yohane!”

“Chika, please help.”

“Yohane, what are you doing?”

“I’m performing a ritual to keep everyone safe throughout this whole ordeal, it requires a litre of virgin’s blood and I have yet to use You in a ritual so she was the simplest choice. Don’t worry, she can probably survive it.”

“YOHANE THAT’S A LOT OF BLOOD PLEASE LET HER GO.”

“It’s not that much for ritual standards, I would think that such a relatively low amount should be fine?”

“THAT’S LIKE A QUARTER OF HER BLOOD.”

“OH. Well if it’s that much then it may not be the best decision, I’ve already used Rin and Pana and I’m not sure any of the third years or Maki would work… You two are the only two I can think of that may fit the requirements and an eighth of your blood each probably still wouldn’t be a very good idea… I guess I should call the ritual off then, that sucks…”

“Ok well while you’re untying You, I’ll tell you about our plan for tonight!”

“Hm? Are we doing something tonight? Maybe you should wait until we’re alone to explain then.”

“H-huh? N-no, not like that You! We’re going to be having a group slumber party in Kanan’s room tonight, currently the plan is all of Aqours as well as Rin and Hanayo.”

“O-oh, well in that case yeah, I’ll be there, what about you Yohane?”

“Of course, if my newest little demons are going to be there then I certainly don’t want to let them down by seeming like I don’t wish to spend time with my underlings!”

“Well I guess that’s settled, see you two then!”

“Yeah, see you then- Oh, there we go, feels nice to be standing again!”

“Hey, You, if you want the third years are all at the pool minus Nico so you could probably join them if you want!”

“Huh, maybe I will, I think I may just get something to eat though, I think it’s getting a little late.”

“Well, either way have fun, I’ll go tell Ruby and Maru then the only one left will be Riko so see you tonight!”

I turned and left towards the Library and as I was about to turn down the hall I saw someone I didn’t expect coming from the other direction.

“H-hey Chika! Have you seen Rin? I’m almost done with her Ramen and I wanted to come get her before it was finished since I don’t want it to sit for too long and get ruined.”

“Hey Hanayo! She’s somewhere down this hall, if I had to guess I’d say maybe the Library?  I’m heading there anyways so why don’t we look for her together?”

“Ok, let’s see if she’s there then.”

As we were walking down the hall the door to the Medicine Room opened beside us and Rin came flying out and crashed into Hanayo.

“Ehh, be more gentle Nico, no need to shove so hard!”

“There you are Rin, not really how I wanted you to find me but I guess this works.”

“Oh Kayo-chin! Where were you? I was looking for you!”

“I was in the Commons Area, there’s something I wanna show you, do you think you can get off of me?”

“Oh! Yeah, sorry Kayo-chin, let’s go!”

“O-ok, you don’t have to drag me, Rin, Rin!’

Rin pulled Hanayo off down the hall and Nico slammed the door again. Suddenly I heard another door open and Maru came out of the Library.

“Hey Maru! I came to tell you that we’re planning to have a big sleepover in Kanan’s room today, wait where’s Ruby?”

“Hey Chika, well I’ll come but Ruby went to the Cafeteria zura, she said she wanted to make sweet potatoes for the two of us since she hasn’t had any since we’ve been here and you’ve gotta know how much it sucks to go so long without your favourite food zura.”

“Ok, I guess that just means one more place for me to stop in, by the way You said it was getting late, I haven’t been watching the time very well but what time is it?”

“It’s 6:23 zura.”   
“Huh, I guess we are getting close to nighttime, I’ll see you later then, I‘ve got to hurry up and get the message to Ruby and Riko.”

“Well good luck on that zura, it’ll be nice to spend some time together like this!”

I walked off towards the Cafeteria and as I was walking I saw someone in the Exercise Room who I certainly wouldn’t have expected.

“Riko? What are you doing in here? You’re not usually one to exercise for fun.”

“Ch-Chika, I was just taking a walk and decided to check out the Exercise Room since I haven’t been in here yet. I’ve probably spent most of my time holed up in my room so I wanted to look around at everything is alll.”

“Ok, that makes sense. Oh! By the way Riko, we were planning on having a group sleepover in Kanan’s room tonight, you should come too!”

“O-ok, I’ll see you then I guess, I just hope I won’t have to paint for a while is all.”

Riko walked away as she said that and it felt kind of unsettling, but I need to have faith in everyone, none of us would be petty enough to kill for money, right?

I walked off towards the Cafeteria where Ruby should be, cooking sweet potatoes for herself and Maru. I saw the two of them sitting at a table and Maru called me over.

“I already told Ruby about the sleepover, she made a lot of potatoes so why don’t you eat with us zura?”   
“Ok, why not, I haven’t eaten much all day so why not.”

I walked over, sat down next to Ruby, and started putting some potatoes on a plate.

“So what’s up? How are you two handling all of this?”

“It’s not really something I’m happy about but I’ve been thinking, what if there’s a way to get out other than by killing someone zura?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“I mean what if we can find out how we got here in the first place and retrace that to figure out how to leave zura. Monokuma seems to have a way to move around the hotel quickly and show up whenever we don’t expect it so that may have something to do with it, but it also may have to do with the Commons Area since the entire room seemed like it was moving when we were going to the trial zura, or maybe the Pool and Courtyard, I’m pretty sure the sunlight is artificial but maybe that has some clues on how to get out.”

“Hmm, that makes some sense, also I’ve noticed that Ruby’s been silent for a really long time, is something wrong with her?”

“She hasn’t really said a word around anyone other than myself and Dia zura. I think she’s scared is all, but she agreed to come to the sleepover.”

“Oh, that’s all, well Ruby, it’s ok, we can get out of this, there’s nothing to be worried about. We just need to have faith in each other, after all, it’s not like any of us would kill over something as simple as money, it’ll all be ok, there’s nothing to worry about. So just try to live here a bit more happily, you don’t need to hide yourself from your friends, ok?”

“O-ok… I just don’t want to lose anyone I care about, I don’t want to be hurt the same way that Umi was, she hasn’t left her room since the trial except for our meetings and when Monokuma gave us the motive. I can tell she’s going through a lot of pain, she lost her two best friends, I just don’t want to lose Maru or Dia like that, it would be too much for me, I don’t know what I would do if that happened…”

“That’s completely understandable, I’m sure every one of us here has someone like that, I have You and Riko, Mari has Kanan and Dia, Hanayo and Rin have each other, all of us have someone we care for beyond anything else, and I’ve made it my duty to help keep everyone safe and if anyone betrays our mutual trust then I will find them, you can count on me Ruby, ok?”

“O-ok, I-I trust you Chika, I have faith in you, I know you’ll keep us safe, as long as I have you I know no one will get away with any potential killing, please don’t let me down Chika, I’m going to put my full trust in you.”

“Don’t worry Ruby, I won’t let you down, you can believe in me!”

As we were talking I heard a familiar tone and the monitor in the corner of the room lit up.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, the Cafeteria, Central hall, and Exercise rooms are now off limits.”

“I guess we should probably leave then zura.”

“Probably, let’s go down to Kanan’s room then, maybe the others are already there.”

The three of us walked towards the west hall and Kanan’s room. When we got there I knocked on the door and was greeted by Mari.

“Hi! Come on in, most of us are here already, but Monokuma said that it’s not ok for us to stay awake for too long after nighttime starts, so we’ll be going to sleep pretty soon.”

“Hmm… Ok then, well hey, at least we can spend this time together.”

“Yeah, at least we’ll all get to be together zura.”

The three of us walked in and we saw that Rin and Hanayo were already asleep on the floor next to Kanan’s bed and Yoshiko had her shark hammock tied at the far wall from the door.

“You two can lay down next to Rin and Hanayo and Chika you can go between Riko and You in front of the bed.”   
Maru and Ruby lay down on a pile of blankets between the wall and Rin and Hanayo. I made my way over towards the foot of the bed to lay between You and Riko, both of whom pressed up against me as I lay there. Dia, Mari, and obviously Kanan were all sharing the bed and I could tell that Dia wasn’t asleep, she lay at the edge of the bed watching Ruby and Maru sleeping together. As I lay there I could feel myself drifting off so I let my eyes close and fell asleep.

I was woken up by the same sound as I had heard the previous day. A ringing tone and a message in a familiar voice.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

As I opened my eyes I saw You’s face directly in front of mine and I remembered where I was. I was in Kanan’s room, we had all decided to sleep in here and I was the only one who knew why, Nozomi had told me not to sleep in my room or something bad would happen. As a result I decided to gather all of Aqours for a sleepover in Kanan’s room and Rin and Hanayo had decided to come as well.

I snapped back to my senses when I saw You starting to open her eyes and she blushed as she pushed away from me, pushing me into Riko and startling her awake.

“Oww, You, you didn’t have to push so hard.”

“S-sorry Chika, I just didn’t expect your face to be so close to mine when I woke up, you know? I did go to sleep facing away from you after all.”

“Yeah, I guess you rolled over in your sleep, well we should probably get ready to meet everyone in the Cafeteria.”   
“Y-Yeah, I guess so.”

“H-hey, can you two go first, I need to go to my room, I think I forgot to bring a change of clothes with me for today.”

“You’ve been really scatterbrained lately, are you sure you’re ok Riko?”

“Y-yeah, I’ll be fine, there’s nothing to worry about!”

“Ok, if you say so, let’s go You.”

As I stood up I noticed Kanan was already gone and Dia was no longer on the bed, she was on the floor next to Ruby and Maru. Everyone seemed to be waking up and taking turns going into Kanan’s bathroom to change.

You and I decided to go change in each of our rooms instead of waiting for everyone else to change in Kanan’s. After I finished changing I walked towards the Cafeteria for our daily meeting. The last to show up was Riko and upon seeing her Umi reacted a bit confusingly.

“Wait, why aren’t you wearing your school uniform?”

Everyone looked at Riko and she was wearing a white button up sweater and pink skirt and she responded by asking a question that made a lot of sense now that it was pointed out.

**{writer’s note: refer to sif card ID #920 for Riko’s outfit}**

“Well, I was just thinking… Well… Why have we all been wearing nothing but our school uniforms until now?”

Everyone went silent and just looked at Riko. No one knew what to say, how had none of us thought about that before now? There was no real reason for us to be wearing them but no one had worn anything else up to this point.

“Ok well after this meeting if you want everyone can go change, I’m not sure we have anything to discuss today so go change if you want to.”

Maki dismissed us almost immediately and everyone, bar Riko, returned to their own rooms to change.

When I finished I decided to walk around and look for Nozomi to ask her about the fortune Maki had delivered for her.

I had little luck finding Nozomi but I found Eli in the library, she was looking at books on fortune telling.

“Whatcha looking at?”

“Huh? Oh hi Chika, Nozomi had a fortune for me yesterday that she didn’t want to tell me the meaning of, I have no idea why she would hide my fortune from me so I’m trying to teach myself how to read a fortune and figure out what her reading had meant for myself.”

“That makes sense, speaking of Nozomi, do you know where she is? She gave me a fortune yesterday and I want to know what it’s about.”

“Oh, you mean the fortune about not staying in your room? She told me that if you had stayed in your room you would be the next one to die.”

The way Eli had said that was terrifying. Almost like she was indifferent to the fact that if I didn’t follow Nozomi’s instructions I would be dead. I sat down to collect myself, it was my second potentially near-death experience.

“By the way, Chika, I was thinking about how there was no door to Management and there’s something that still unsettles me.”

“What? I thought we already went over how not all the rooms here have doors.”

“Yes but remember back on the first day, wasn’t there a door to Management then? What if we missed our only chance to look in there, what if there was some kind of clue in there as to why we’re here, or how to get out.”

“I, well, I don’t know, I just feel like we should just try to live in peace here together, we have food, we have plenty of luxuries, I don’t see why we can’t just stay here.”

Eli paused, as if she was thinking about what I had said, before closing her book and putting it back on the shelf.

“Yes, I guess you’re right, I’ll see you around. I’m going to stick in my room for a while, there’s more I need to think about.”

Eli left and I saw another book on the floor where she was sitting. I put it on the shelf and left the Library.

I wandered the halls for a while before I saw Dia walk into the closet. I followed her in and saw something I almost should have guessed I would see. Inside were outfits that we had worn in our different performances and Dia was looking at all the different outfits µ's had worn. She took the outfit Eli had worn during Bokura wa Ima no Naka de and tried it on in front of a mirror. I left without making a sound to avoid embarrassing her and bumped into Nozomi who I hadn’t noticed was watching as well.

“Hey, be careful, it’s cute seeing her fangirling secretively like this.”   
“Why are you here Nozomi? Why are you spying on Dia?”

“Well aren’t you doing the same?”

“Th-that’s beside the point, what are you doing here?”   
“Spying on Dia, I thought you established that?”

“You’re really hard to talk to sometimes.”   
“Hmhmhm, well I’ll choose to take that as a compliment. Why don’t we head somewhere else before she notices us?”

“Too late.”

I turned and saw Dia standing in the doorway, her face bright red.

“Hey there Dia, I was just, uh, looking at this great dust on the ground, it’s pretty neat!”

“I was just looking at you strip.”

Nozomi’s bluntness only caused her to turn redder and she crossed her arms and looked away.

“I-I’ll just be happy that the woman who loves  _ the _ Eli Ayase was also experiencing joy from looking at me!”

“So um, do you want us to leave still?”

“Yes! Go! And don’t tell ELi about this.”

“Fufu~ Don’t worry, I’ll be sure not to, but in return you have to do one thing for me later on.”

“I-I don’t think I like the sound of that, you’re starting to rub me the same way as Mari.”

“Well I could tell Eli that you were wearing her clothes~”

“NO! J-just… Fine, I’ll agree to your terms.”

“Thank ya muchly. I’ll see you later then, you’d better not die before I redeem that promise.”

Nozomi walked off and Dia shut the door to the closet in my face. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened but Nozomi and Dia seemed like they were closer somehow. I realized I missed my chance to ask Nozomi if there was anything other than what Eli had said about the fortune but I decided to let it go. If it were really as simple as if I had slept in my room I would have died then that meant that there wasn’t going to be anything that came of it.

I walked off towards the courtyard and saw You sitting at the top of the diving board by the Pool.

“Maybe it’s not a very good idea to dive fully clothed.”

“Huh? Oh, hey there Chika, I was just sitting up here, I wasn’t planning on diving today.”

“Ok, you want someone to talk with?”

“I guess. I don’t mind having a chat, what’s up?”

I climbed up to the top of the diving board and sat beside her. “Nothing really, It’s been two days since the trial, maybe nobody’s going to kill with this incentive after all!”

“I… Wish I could be as optimistic as you, I feel like someone is just biding their time to strike at the perfect moment. I think this trial will be a fair bit more difficult than the first.”

“Hmm, well let’s cut the depressing talk!”

I grabbed You and pushed her off the diving board into the pool and jumped in after her.

“Bwuh, what was that for?”

“I wanted to do that from the moment I saw you up there, hehe.”

“Huh? What’s going on in here, why are you two in the pool fully clothed?”

Riko had come in and seen the two of us in the water. You and I looked at each other in a bit of a silent agreement. The two of us got out of the water, grabbed Riko, and threw her in as well.

“H-hey, I never said I wanted to join you!”

“Heheheh, sorry Riko, it was too good of an opportunity not to take!”

“Don’t worry Riko, there are towels over here, I’ll get each of us one.”   
“Thanks You, can you help me out of the water Chika?”

“Yeah, I’ve got you.”

I grabbed Riko’s hand and pulled her out of the water as You came back with three towels. We all walked over and sat down on a few pool chairs.

“So how have you been Riko? Did you remember to close your door today?”

“Y-yes, I made sure to shut it when I saw the note on Umi’s door.”

“I really can’t believe none of us thought about the idea of wearing different clothes from our school uniforms before you.”

“Hmm, I guess.”   
“Um, Chika, I have a question.”

“What is it You?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while but… Who do you love more? Me or Riko?”

“Huh? I thought you knew You, I tell you two this all the time. I love you both.”

“Yeah but… Who do you love more?”

“I love you both equally.”

“Hmm… How can I word this without it sounding bad…”

“What do you mean You?”

“I think she wants to know which of us you would want to, you know, date.”

“Yeah, exactly, that’s it.”   
“Well can’t we all just date each other?”

“Argh, why do you have to be so hard to understand sometimes?”

“No, I just don’t get why it has to be a couple, we can be a trio!”

“B-but… you only have one mouth.”

“But I have two cheeks.”

“Huh… I… Don’t have a response for that… You’re right, ok I guess this works, you ok with sharing her Riko?”

“With you? Definitely, I can trust you not to hurt her, you’ve been together your entire lives, you may as well have been born in the same room.”

“Well then that’s settled, the three of us are all dating each other now!”

“Heheh, when you put it that way it’s a bit embarrassing, Chika”

I pulled both of them closer to me and hugged them both.

“H-hey! Chika! You’re still really wet!.”

“Heheh, are you sure that’s not you?”   
Riko turned bright red at this unsurprisingly.

“Ch-Chika! I honestly wonder what I see in you sometimes.”

“Hehehe, you still love me though. I know! Why don’t we all stay in my room tonight, just the three of us!”

“A-Alright, just don’t try anything weird Chika.”

“I’m in, and don’t feel afraid to do anything weird.”

“Well we just started dating so I say we don’t take it too quickly.”

“I think that may be the thing you’ve said in this conversation that makes the most sense.”

Suddenly I heard another tone signalling the end of my fun at the poolside

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. It is now Nighttime, the Cafeteria, Central hall, and Exercise rooms are now off limits.”

“Wow have we really been here that long? I guess we should go back to my room then.”

“Yeah, let’s go then.”

The three of us all got up, mostly dry, and put our towels in the used bin by the exit. As we were walking back we saw Maru leaving the central hall and the shutters that I had seen the first night closed down behind her.

“Hey Maru! Guess what?”

“Hm? What is it Chika?”

“The three of us are all dating each other now!”

“Chika! You don’t have to run around telling everyone!”

“Huuuh? Are you embarrassed to be dating both me and You at the same time?”

“That’s wonderful zura! I’m happy you three have finally decided to make it official, you three just complete each other so well!”

“Thanks Maru! Have a good night, I’m sure tomorrow will be a great day just like today!”

“You’re right, let’s all have fun tomorrow! Maybe I can get Ruby and Yoshiko and we can have a double date!”

“Yeah! That would be super fun!”

We ended up next to my door and went in, we all changed into what we were going to sleep in and pressed into my bed together the same way we were the previous night in Kanan’s room. I could feel Riko breathing and could tell she was asleep and You had her arm wrapped around me.

“Even if anything ever happens to me I want you to stay safe, ok Chika?”

That was the last thing I heard before I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up to the usual alarm and announcement.

“This is an important Hotel bulletin. Nighttime is now over, I hope you all have a bea-utiful day!”

I could feel You and Riko still to both sides of me and You was already changing before she even got out of the bed. 

“You sure seem eager today.”

“I’m just happy that I woke up and saw that yesterday wasn’t just a dream, I’m excited that the three of us are a trio now!”

“Well we should probably head to the Cafeteria once the two of us are dressed.”

“Yeah, I’ll wait for you two.”

“It’s sort of lucky that we’re so similar body-wise since we can just share clothes like this, Riko has to go to her room to get clothes though.”

“You don’t have to remind me, I’m going.”

Riko left the room and You pretended to look away while I changed.

“Well, let’s go, we don’t wanna keep everyone waiting.”

You and I left and Riko was already waiting in the hall outside my room. When we got to the Cafeteria we saw that we somehow weren’t the last ones to arrive.

Dia and Kanan were nowhere to be seen.

“I say we go on without them, their fault for being late.”

“No, there could be something else going on here Nico, we should wait and see what happens.”

As Maki said that, Dia came into the Cafeteria from the direction of the east hall.

She looked pale as a ghost, it was unnerving. I went over to see if I could figure out what was going on.

“A-Are you ok Dia?”

“Stag…”

“S-stag? D-did you see a beetle?”

“STAGE, IT’S AT THE STAGE.”

Dia screamed and looked like she was about to burst into tears, I got a bad feeling in my gut as I ran towards the stage, my legs carrying me without even thinking.

Maki slammed the door open and what I saw was awful.

The blood, there was blood everywhere, the stage was soaked in it. In Kanan’s mouth was a second year’s uniform from Uranohoshi and her stomach was covered in blood. On the floor behind her was a word written in blood

  


**_A LIE_ **

  


Then came the sound.

“Ding. Ding. Ding. Dong.” Monokuma didn’t even need to say the next part. “A body has been discovered”

I was awful, how could someone kill now? It was going so well no one was killing anyone, the motive was awful, killing for money was a losing decision, but someone did it. The realisation hit me that Kanan, a girl I had known since childhood, a girl who was always there when you needed her, a girl who could never leave anyone behind, she was strong, selfless, and dead. Someone had killed her. Someone had betrayed her. It was a painful sight.

Mari was walking towards her body with tears welling up in her eyes.

“WHO DID THIS?”

Her voice was hoarse, she seemed like she was about to break down.

“I SWEAR, WHOEVER DID THIS, I WILL FIGURE OUT WHO IT IS, I WILL MAKE SURE YOU’RE DISCOVERED AND I HOPE MONOKUMA’S PUNISHMENT MAKES YOU SUFFER, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO SOMEONE SO SWEET?”

Dia pushed past everyone else looking in at the body, walked up to Mari, and wrapped herself around her. They both broke into tears together, bawling into each other’s shoulders. It was a sad sight to see.

I tried to walk past them to look at the body closer and Mari barked at me.

“DON’T GO ANY CLOSER, I WON’T LET ANYONE NEAR HER.”

“Mari, I have to get closer to look at the bod-”

“NO!”

She seemed serious. It seemed like there was no way I would be able to look at the body.

“Well if I can’t look at the body can I look around behind the stage? There could be evidence back there, I want to find who did this to her just as badly as you do Mari!”

“F-fine, just let me get over there first.”

Mari got up and walked over to the stage and sat down next to Kanan with Dia. She touched her cheek and pulled her finger away immediately, I can only guess that she felt the coldness of death. It hurt to see.

Before I could walk towards the stage I heard a beep. Fifteen beeps to be precise. Everyone took out their Monobooks and saw a new notification

**Monokuma Special Bulletin**

Monokuma File #2

“The victim was Kanan Matsuura.

The body was found on the Stage.

Time of death: Approximately 10p.m.

Cause of death: Blood loss.

There were many slashes across the victim's torso.”

As I walked closer I could see that there were indeed a series of cuts around her gut. I nearly threw up and had to look away. Maki walked up to Mari, likely to ask if she could perform an autopsy.

I walked behind the stage to look for potential clues and saw something almost painfully obvious. There was a bloodsoaked kitchen knife on the ground, blood covered it all the way up the handle. There was a faint trail of blood from the knife to the body.

On the tables there were a series of hairpins and other accessories, all normal things for a Stage to have. 

I decided to walk over to Dia and Mari to ask Dia what she had seen when she first saw the body.

“I came in and saw the blood everywhere, I didn’t even look at who the body was, I threw up in the trash can next to the door and left for the Cafeteria.

“Do you have any guess for who could have done this?”

“Well, there’s a second year uniform right there, doesn’t that mean it has to be one of you three?”

What she said made no sense. There was no way any of us could have done it. We were all in my room last night. And since it wasn’t me there was no way either of the other two could have done it since they would have no way back into my room if they left. The three of us had alibis and so that means it can’t be any of us, so how was there a second year uniform?

I got up and left the Stage, I could ask Maki for her autopsy later.

I went to the Medicine Room and saw Nico moving various bottles around in the cabinets.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m no good in the investigation so Maki told me to put all the poisons we sorted away in order from least to most dangerous.”

“Huh, ok, well be careful, don’t drop anything.”

“Yeah yeah, by the way tell Maki her counting skills need some work, she said she counted how much blood there was and she said there were 20 bags but there’s only 19.”

“Hm, ok, I’ll keep that in mind.”

I left and moved for the trash room to see if the killer tried to burn any evidence but I heard a voice behind me.

“Don’t bother, if the killer tried to burn anything it would be long gone by now, the murder was at 10pm after all.”

“Hey Eli, I guess you’re right, but can’t hurt to look.”

I opened the door and saw that the furnace was shut. I walked over and saw that the burner was still running! I pressed the button to turn it off and it opened automatically.

“It automatically closes when you turn it on and opens when you turn it off, I collected the trash from all the rooms except the rooms we sleep in since I couldn’t get in there and that’s when I found out. You would be shocked at how much trash 18 girls can make in four days.”

“I live in an inn, trust me when I say I know how it can get sometimes.”

“Fair enough, but yeah, it’s almost certain that the killer burnt something.”

“By the way when did you throw all the trash out? I never noticed you walking around with any trash.”

“It was towards the end of the day yesterday.”

“Ok, that makes sense, I was with Riko and You by the pool then so that must be why I never saw you.”   
“Yeah, must be. I have a question, well, more of a request.”

“What is it?”

“After this trial, the door to Management may reappear, it may not. If that door ever appears again I want you to open it. Don’t go in, just open the door. That way you would be following Monokuma’s rules but you’ll be able to see in there and probably see why he doesn’t want us to go in.”

“O-ok, but why don’t you do it?”

“Something tells me if it ever matters I’d be dead long before then.”

Eli walked away and I looked into the empty furnace again before leaving as well.

As I left the center hall You came up to me.

“Follow me, there’s something weird.”

She pulled me towards the courtyard and across to the pool, when we entered the pool I saw exactly what she meant. The was an area of the pool that was dyed red.

“How are our prime suspects doing?”

“H-huh? What do you mean Dia? I thought you were comforting Mari.”   
“I’m trying to look around to help with the investigation, am I not allowed to try to find which of you three it was?”

“Why do you insist it was one of us?”

“She was gagged with one of your uniforms, who else could it be?”

“Th-that…”

“Face it, one of you is guilty, there’s no other possibility.”

“But we all have alibis with each other, we all slept in my room last night.”

“Hm, well that just means you were the only one that could have done it, thanks for making my job easier.”

“Wait what? No, that’s-”

“I’ve heard everything I need to, I’m going to the Commons Area.”

“Chika, I know it can’t have been you.”

“Thanks for believing in me You, but I’m not sure most of the rest are going to listen, even the lie line makes sense, we’ve known each other all our lives, that would make everything she’s known of our friendship a lie. I’m not sure how I’m going to prove myself to the rest.”

The two of us walked down towards the Cafeteria, I had seen a kitchen knife so it seemed like a good idea.

When I arrived I saw Maki there and she came up to me.

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to accuse you, I know that it can’t have been any of you three.”

“Well it’s good to know that there’s at least one other person who believes in the truth.”

“Of course, as a matter of fact I think there may be some misinformation going on, there’s one thing we’ve all been told that’s just. not. true.”

“Hm? Can I take a guess that this is your big mystery for me this trial?”

“Good to know you pick up on things quick, yes, I won’t tell what it is or who it’s from, but it’s pretty important to this trial. Here’s the autopsy, Kanan’s only wounds were the cuts along her body and her cuts were about 0.9 mm in thickness. The uniform in her mouth was covered in bite marks and her face was wet with tears, it’s likely she was awake and aware while she was attacked.”

As Maki finished speaking I heard a familiar ding in the corner of the room and Monokuma appeared on the screen.

“The investigation is now over, please report to the Commons Area for the second of our wondrous hotel trials!”

You, Maki and I walked to the Commons Area together and we ended up being the last ones to show up.

As we stepped in, Monokuma began to speak from his position on the table at the front of the room.

“Everyone is here? It looks like we’ve gone down to just fifteen, you all must really like to kill each other! Day five and three are already down. Well whatever, who’s ready for the gut wrenching, stomach slashing, slice and dice trial of Kanan Matsuura’s killing!”

The room started to shift again and when it stopped the doors flew open to reveal the trial room once again. We all took our positions around the circle and there were two new stands of those who had died. Kotori Minami, the killer of the first trial, and the newest victim, Kanan Matsuura, my friend. She was betrayed by someone she trusted, I had to start by digging myself out of a hole that the Uranohoshi uniform in Kanan’s mouth created. Then I had to find and expose the killer.

“Let’s start with a brief explanation about the trial. Your votes will be the deciding factor of the trials outcome. If you can figure out whodunnit then only they will be punished, but if you choose wrong… I’m going to punish everyone besides the blackened, and they will be allowed to leave the Hotel! Well, I’m gonna sit back and enjoy the show, so why don’t you all get started!”

Monokuma repeated his same speech from the previous trial word for word. It was time to begin. Time to find out who lied to Kanan. Time to figure out who would be petty enough to kill for something as simple as money. Time to commence the second trial of Monokuma’s Killing Festival.

  


**_TRIAL START_ **

  


Dia: Why don’t we just skip to the end of the trial, it had to be Chika.

Maki: No, there are way too many variables to call it now.

Dia: What do you mean?  **The uniform proves it.**

Maki: All it proves is that the person who killed her had access to one.

Nico: But weren’t the only ones with access to them

**the three second years of Aqours?**

Chika: No! That’s wrong!

  


You: Wait you know a way that someone else could have gotten one of our uniforms?

Chika: Not me, Riko. That’s Riko’s uniform and I think I know how and when it was stolen.

Riko: W-Wait what? It wasn’t me!

Chika: Of course it wasn’t, but it was your uniform that was stolen. Afterall, it’s the reason you weren’t wearing it the day after the motive was given.

Riko: W-wait, I’ll explain myself, it’s embarrassing.

Chika: Go for it, I won’t stop you.

Riko: Ok well, I… lost my uniform…

Umi: Well you may as well be admitting your guilt, that’s an awful excuse, how do you lose your clothing?

Maki: No, she’s telling the truth, all of us had four uniforms, am I wrong? That’s the number I had when we arrived. So that would mean that she was likely going to wash her laundry on the day after the motive was given, however when she went to get dressed she noticed she didn’t have another uniform.

Riko: I don’t know when but at some point my fourth uniform disappeared, someone probably stole it somehow.

Chika: I can’t answer the who, but I know when. It was directly after the motive was given, I had mentioned that Riko left her door open when I brought her to the Baths for our plan to have a group bath, that means everyone knew she had left her door open at least once.

Maki: And so anyone could have done it, Riko’s door was open after the motive was given.

Chika: Not quite. There are two people it can’t possibly have been.

Nozomi: And who are these two?

Chika: The only people to leave after Riko, myself and Hanayo.

Rin: So you and Kayo-chin are the only two who are guaranteed innocent?

Maki: No, Pana is the only one who’s fully innocent. Chika could have taken it when she woke up. But still, she isn’t the one who did it. For what reason would she have taken it? She could have used one of her own, and it’s not to pin the crime, she is the one who proved it wasn’t Riko after all.

Umi: And what if that’s her plan? What if she has some other way to pin blame and this is just her way of “proving” herself?

Maki: Trust me when I say that’s not the case. Let’s talk about the next part of this trial now that you all won’t push blame towards Chika for no reason. The murder weapon

  


You: W-wait what? Wasn’t it the  **bloody knife** Chika found?

Maki: No, there is  **no possible way** for that to be the weapon

Chika: Exactly!

  


Yoshiko: Hold it Chika, you’re contradicting yourself. You found the knife, shouldn’t it have to be that?

Chika: No, did you hear Maki’s autopsy?

Yoshiko: Yeah, it was a whole lot of nothing, we already knew everything in it, she had her stomach cut up.

Chika: But you seem to be ignoring the most important part. The cuts were only 0.9mm in thickness. I’m sure someone like you knows how thick a kitchen knife is.

Yoshiko: Yes, I use them as replacements for my sacrificial dagger in rituals sometimes.

Maki: So how thick is the blade on a typical knife?

Yoshiko: One sixteenth of an inch.

Maki: And can someone tell me how much that is in millimeters?

Nozomi: 1.5mm, so that knife can’t be the one that was used to cut Kanan.

Chika: Exactly, so we don’t know what the weapon is, none of us ever found a knife that was that small.

Dia: So where did that get us?

Maki: Well the next issue is why that knife was there and why it was covered in blood. I’m sure Chika knows the answer to one of these questions. How come the knife was covered in so much blood? Why was there no sign of a handprint or anything?

Chika: {A way that the knife could have been covered in blood and not touched afterwards? It has to be…}

There was a missing blood packet in the Medicine Room, Nico told me.

Maki: Exactly, the person who killed her must have taken a blood packet and poured it on that knife, that’s also what the blood trail from the knife to the body is made of.

Ruby: O-ok but… Now what?

Maki: Well here’s some food for thought, the time of death was approximately 10pm, where was everyone right after the nighttime announcement? Of course the killer would be lying. Since they would be either in or near the Stage. So why don’t some of you tell us?

  


Suddenly I was shaking. Where I was after the announcement last night. I was… Outside the Stage… I was walking back to my room with You and Riko, we were right outside the door to where Kanan was being brutally murdered. We were that close to such a tragic event, if we had just opened that door… We would have seen who did this, we would have the answer to this entire mess, but we would have also witnessed such an awful event, we would have seen Kanan suffering. We would have seen her pain. Her torture.

  


Maki: Chika? You’re shaking, where were you?

Chika: I was… Outside the Stage.

Eli: What? Then you were right next to the killing!

Chika: You think I don’t realize that? I’m not sure what to say about this, I was in the Pool with You and Riko when the announcement happened, the three of us went back to my room and slept there together.

Hanayo: Wait you were all sleeping together? So they all have airtight alibis, is this what you meant by Chika being innocent as well, Maki?

Maki: Hmm, I actually wasn’t aware they had slept together.

Hanamaru: I think I was probably the only one that knew then.

Maki: When did this happen?

Riko: When we were walking to Chika’s room we saw Maru leaving the central hall.

Maki: So Hanamaru was in the central hall as Kanan died?

Umi: Wait, if she was near the Stage, does that mean she was the killer? Was she just leaving from the trash room? Eli said the incinerator was left on after all.

Hanamaru: W-wait what? I don’t-

Dia: No way, there’s no way Maru could do this, she’s too much of a sweetheart, but… Umi was saying the same thing about Kotori in the last trial… How could you do this Maru?

Hanamaru: N-no! I didn’t-

Chika: Maru, how could you-

Hanamaru: Sore wa chigau zura!

  


Chika: M-Maru?

Hanamaru: I wasn’t the one who killed her! I was in the library!

Chika: Well how can we prove that?

Hanamaru: I can show you which books I had gotten then!

Chika: You could have gone to the Library afterwards to give yourself an alibi.

Hanamaru: There has to be something that proves my innocence!

Maki:  **Chika, you’re wrong**

  


Chika: Wait what?

Maki: I’m saying you’re wrong, Hanamaru couldn’t have killed Kanan.

Dia: You mean you have some kind of proof of this?

Maki: Of course, well more accurately Yoshiko does.

Yoshiko: I do?

  


Yoshiko: What proof could I have?

I was **in my room** when the nighttime announcement was made

Maki: No, I’m talking about earlier than that.

I was **in the Medicine Room** with Nico all day yesterday

I saw you go to the Library with Hanamaru.

Eli: And what does that prove?

All that means is that someone else was with Hanamaru before she killed Kanan

So **isn’t the blame still on her?**

Chika: No, I’ve got it!

  


Chika: If Yoshiko was with Maru when she went to the Library then there’s no way Maru could have burnt something in the incinerator!

Dia: But wouldn’t she have just gone after Maki was gone and Yoshiko had left?

Chika: No, it’s not a matter of who was there, it’s the fact that Yoshiko knows one thing Maru couldn’t have had with her what would be necessary if she was the killer. It would be too big to hide.

Maki: So do you know what this is Chika?

Chika: Of course, if Maru were the killer she would have needed a change of clothes!

Nico: What? Where’s the connection? What does her outfit have to do with committing murder? And it’s not the uniform since that could have been put in the Stage in advance!

Chika: Of course not, the reason she needed a change of clothes should be obvious. Did you even look at the crime scene?

Mari: O-of course! That’s it! If she was the one to kill her then she would have been covered in blood! With how many cuts there were there was no way the killer wasn’t covered in blood!

Maki: That’s right. The killer would be drenched in blood after a murder like that, I can assume Hanamaru wasn’t covered in blood when Chika, You, and Riko saw her so tell me Yoshiko, did Hanamaru have a change of clothes when you went to the Library with her?

Yoshiko: Well, you see… She did.

  


Silence. No one spoke. Maru had brought a change of clothes with her to the library. So she really was the killer? But no, there were still so many unanswered questions. We didn’t know the murder weapon. We didn’t understand the red stain in the Pool. And there was one thing that seemed to make no sense in regards to how Maru could have been the killer.

  


Eli: Then I guess that settles it, Hanamaru was the one to kill Kanan. I guess we may as well go ahead and vo-

Chika: Wait! That’s wrong!

  


Maki: Chika’s right, it’s too soon to call it, let Hanamaru explain herself first. I still don’t believe it would make sense for her to be the killer.

Hanamaru: Th-thank you, Maki, Chika. I did have a change of clothes, but they were there so I could potentially spend the night in the library. When I was about to go to sleep Monokuma came and told me I couldn’t sleep in the library and that in our rooms was the only place I could sleep. I must have left my outfit in the library and that’s why I didn’t have it when I left.

Ruby: Y-yeah! See? So that’s why Maru couldn’t have been the killer, she had a place for her clothes! I’m sure if we went there now Maru could show you where they are!

Monokuma: Well let’s save you the trouble so we can get back to the trial more quickly, I’ll play you all the feed from the camera in the library!

  


On the walls of the trial room, footage of the library suddenly appeared. On the table next to the chair in the corner of the library was a familiar set of clothing.

  


Yoshiko: Yes, that is the outfit Zuramaru had when we went to the library together, and it’s definitely not covered in blood!

Maki: And thus Hanamaru is innocent, she has Chika’s alibi and Yoshiko’s alibi to defend herself with. Now let’s move on to something else.

Chika: Well there is one thing that’s a bit odd to me. You is the one who pointed it out.

Dia: Do you mean that red stain in the pool?

Chika: Exactly, there’s a part of the pool that’s almost died red.

Maki: Well this is interesting, I wonder what it could mean.

  


Maki: So what can the red stain mean?

Dia: What even caused it?

Rin: What if someone  **spilt a lot on nail polish?**

Nico: Rin that’s stupid.

Rin: Aww, I’m just throwing out ideas!

Riko: Maybe it’s  **how the killer got rid of some important evidence.**

Chika: Yes! That’s it!

  


Umi: What do you mean? How could a red stain in a pool be key evidence?

Chika: What if I told you that that could be how the killer got rid of the blood on their clothes?

Eli: But didn’t they just burn them?

Chika: No, there’s no way the killer would have burnt their clothes. If they did then we would just see who had one less outfit in their dresser in their room and we would know who the killer was right then and there, they had to keep their outfit.

Eli: Well we know they burnt something, so what else would they have burnt?

Maki: Chika, I take it you figured out what I was talking about earlier?

Chika: Of course, the fact is that the killer  **didn’t** burn something.

Eli: Wait what?

Chika: As a matter of fact, the fact that nothing was burnt proves exactly who the killer is.

Mari: So you figured out who did it?

Chika: I believe so, Maki, is there a question you would like to ask for me?

Maki: Sure, well then, Eli, when you collected our trash, what time was it?

Eli: What are you talking about, this has nothing-

Maki: Answer the question Eli.

Eli: It was… about 6pm

Maki: That’s interesting, because when I saw you taking the trash into the trash room I looked at the clock in the Medicine Room and it said it was only 3, Nico can vouch for me on this. So what reason would you have to lie?

Nozomi: She probably just read the time wrong.

Maki: 3 and 6 are quite far apart, I find it hard to believe Eli of all people would make that mistake.

Eli: Wait but I-

Maki: You had taken the trash out at 3, you’ve always been diligent, 7 hours was more than enough time for it to finish burning. So why didn’t you go and turn it off?

Nozomi: I hadn’t given her any fortune about last night, so don’t look at me.

Eli: B-b-but, there’s no proof! You can’t accuse me without proof!

Chika: But I do have proof.

Eli: No you don’t! There’s nothing to prove my guilt! There’s no way I could have done it! So many people don’t have alibis! Why do I have to be the one who did it! There’s no proof! No reason for me to have done it! I was never anywhere near Kanan!

Chika: Eli, there’s a lie.

Eli: W-what?

Chika: That’s my proof, my proof is a lie.

Eli: So your proof isn’t even real? What does that even mean?

Chika: next to Kanan, there was a word written in her own blood, she died of bloodloss so we know she had every opportunity to write it. The word was LIE.

Eli: What does that mean? All it means is that the killer lied to her!

Chika: That’s one part of it, but the actual meaning of the word lie is an anagram.

Eli: What do you mean?

Chika: Think, what words can you make with the letters of the word LIE?

Mari: There’s only one word… I can’t believe you would do this…

Eli: No! No! That’s a coincidence! It’s only three letters!

Chika: You’re right, three letters that incriminate you!

Maki: Chika, why don’t you explain how it all happened then, explain how Eli killed Kanan.

Chika: Of course.

  


It started from the moment we got the motive, the killer was one of the first to leave. She waited until there was nobody in the hall to go into Riko’s room and steal a uniform from her drawers. The next place she went was the Stage where she stashed the uniform. The second step was to slip a packet of blood from the medicine room. This was likely done the night before the killing, when both Maki and Nico were elsewhere. The third item to stash was an unknown murder weapon, smaller than a kitchen knife, just under a millimeter thick.

With all these things stashed, all that was left was to lure someone into the Stage to commit the crime that was already planned out to the second.

The killer had already gained Kanan’s trust, making her easy to lure, probably with an idea to perform a duet together to inspire the rest of us. Kanan likes to help others in any way she can so it makes sense why she would follow the killer.

On the day the killer struck she decided to collect the trash from the various rooms of the Hotel and throw them into the incinerator to create a chance to lie and say that the killer must have destroyed some type of evidence. However Maki’s observational skills busted this plan and there was nothing the killer could do to cover this.

With the victim in place, the killer sprung into action. First they tied the stolen uniform around Kanan’s mouth to gag her. The next step was to simply slash Kanan’s stomach as much as possible. While this was happening the nighttime announcement sounded and the killer likely grew slightly panicked, but she continued with her plan.

The killer placed the kitchen knife backstage and used the true murder weapon to cut open the blood bag.

The killer poured blood on the knife, not realizing they soaked the entire handle, ruining their fake murder weapon plan right from the start. Then they used the last of the blood to make a small trail towards the body. The killer likely heard myself, Riko, You, and Maru in the hall so she knew we could potentially be blocking her way to her room, and thus her shower. With no other way to clean the blood off due to the shutters blocking the trash room and her path to a shower blocked off, she had to jump into the pool to clean the blood off that way. However the blood hadn’t dissipated quickly enough and left a large stain in the pool. In her panic the killer had left before Kanan had fully stopped breathing however and Kanan was able to write the killer’s name in an anagram.

The only person who could have done all of this in such a calculated fashion is you, Eli Ayase!

  


Eli: N-No! There has to be a misunderstanding, it wasn’t me! I swear!

Nozomi: Eli… Please, give up… It hurts me to watch you struggle.

Eli: N-Nozomi? You can’t really believe this!

Nozomi: Eli, that’s not it, I knew it was you from the start.

Eli: Wh-what do you mean?

Nozomi: That fortune I wouldn’t tell you about, it said that you would die soon.

Eli: But… but... 

Maki: Eli, just give up, accept your loss, you killed her, it’s what you get.

  


Eli looked down in defeat. It seemed she accepted her fate and was ready for her punishment.

  


Monokuma: Well! It looks like this is all wrapped up so why don’t we get to the main event? It’s voting time!

  


Everyone selected the killer and it was seeming unanimous, it hurt, a friend I’ve had since childhood, killed in cold blood, I understand the pain Umi went through, but I’m sure hers was much worse, she lost both of her friends at once whereas I still had You and Riko at the very least. It was painful, but we had to move on, the killer would get what she deserved and we could all try to live in peace together. As more killers came up, our trust in each other would have to become stronger, that was the only way we could make it through this ordeal. We can’t fall into the trap of Monokuma’s game!

  


Monokuma: The votes are in! The resident who has been voted unanimously as the blackened, is Eli Ayase! The votes are correct, the blackened has been found, and only they will be punished!

  


**_TRIAL END_ **

  
  


Eli’s face was dark, but the fact the votes were unanimous spoke for her. She accepted she had been found. She accepted she would be punished. She accepted her loss and accepted her death. 

“Eli, I just have one question for you.”

“What is it Nozomi.”

“Why? Why would you do it? You’ve never cared about money in the past, so why would you kill with a motive like that?”

“Heheh… Shouldn’t that much be obvious? It was for you, all of this was for you, Nozomi.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“I killed for you, I wanted you to have the money, I wanted to be able to get a better place for us to live, sure you have a job but it’s just not getting enough, we needed a break like this!”

“But Eli, that’s stupid of you! Why! Why would you do this!”

“It was an easy way to get money for us! What more is there to explain?”

“That’s not it, oh why are you such an idiot sometimes!”

“I don’t-”

“If you had gotten away with it, if we hadn’t figured out that it was you, I would have been executed!”

Eli staggered back, it was as if she had forgotten that if she succeeded everyone else would be killed. And she broke down in tears. She finally felt guilt for her actions. It was almost redeeming for her, everything she had done was for Nozomi, she had just failed to realize that if her plan succeeded, the woman she loved, the woman she did this for. She would have been executed alongside the rest of us. If she had succeeded then it would have been the greatest failure imaginable.

Monokuma pulled out his mallet and the same red button from the previous trial rose out of the ground before him.

Upon Monokuma’s mallet’s impact with the button, the floor underneath Eli rose up. She went through an opening in the ceiling and when we looked to the screens on each wall we saw where she was. Eli was kneeling inside a massive Matryoshka doll. In the distance was a smaller one, the innermost doll. Monokuma drove beside the dolls inside a large crane and stopped beside the last of the dolls. The doll was picked up and dropped into the next smallest doll and the doll’s top came falling from above it. Then Monokuma picked up that doll and placed it inside the next doll. He moved up the line of dolls, placing them inside themselves, until he came to Eli’s doll. He picked up the doll that fit inside it and dropped it in. Upon landing we heard a crunch as Eli was crushed and her blood an insides flew everywhere. No top fell onto this doll, instead Eli’s doll was never complete. Eli was left without a second half. And the remaining residents were ushered out of the trial room, terrified at the brutality we had just borne witness to.

  


“Nozomi, Eli had said that the fortune you had Maki give to me said I would die if I stayed in my room that night but-”

“No, the fortune was that the person whose room you stayed in would be killed by Eli, I’m sorry you had to make that choice, but you’re more important than anyone else in the success of these trials, without you I’m almost certain a potential killer will never be found. Even Maki would fail without you, you’re our trump card and I fully believe in that. So remember, stay safe.”

With that statement, Nozomi left the Commons Area and entered back into the main hotel, it was scary, Nozomi considered me the most important person to the discovery of any killers. I’m not sure if I believed her, Maki’s saved me more times than I can count, but maybe she’s just preparing me for when she’s murdered like she keeps saying she will be. There’s just too much to process in this Hotel, too much pain, too much loss, too much sadness. It truly is a Hotel of Despair.

  


**_Chapter 2: End  
_ **


End file.
